Floral Homemade Wine Making Steps And Recipes

Did you know that one of the loveliest wines that I have ever tasted was made with gorse flowers? Thanks to Bournemouth Winemaker's Circle, they let me in on the secret of this delicious homemade wine. This gorse wine was then sampled at the Town Hall on the occasion of the Amateur Wine-Makers' Second Annual Conference show.

It is difficult to believe that floral wines cannot be likened to any other homemade wine or store bought wine, simply because their flavors are unique. Flower wines are not only described as delicately aromatic, but they can't be found in any other wine. The popularity is only lessened by the chore of gathering the flowers. You could gather flowers enough for a gallon or two in an hour.

Care is important if you are wishing to get the best from the ingredients and you'll want to spend the time in the picking process. Use a basket for good air circulation to place your picked flowers in. The larger size is better because we don't want to crush or damage the flowers- especially the flower heads.

How you gather the flowers is also very important. Dandelions must be gathered on their closed state because when they are closed the petals may be pulled out all together merely by holding the head of the flower and pulling on the petals grouped together. Although only petals should be used in making flower wines, still many people make quite good dandelion wine by using the whole heads.

To achieve the best result in floral winemaking, an all-purpose wine yeast must be used. Also, do not use invert sugar because it can slightly change the aroma of the flower as well as the delicate color of the flower wines. Here is the long awaited recipe I mentioned tasting at the conference.

Delicious Gorse Wine:

Start off with gathering at least 5-6 pints of gorse flowers, 3 lb. sugar, a gal. of water, 1 oz. yeast.

1.Put the flowers in the fermenting vessel and pour on half a gallon of boiling water.
2.Cover and leave to soak for three days, stirring each day and covering again at once.
3.Next you'll boil half of the sugar in a quart of water for two minutes and cool the solution. When this is cool add it to the flower mixture. Add the yeast and ferment for three days.
4.Strain out the flowers and continue to ferment the liquor in the fermenting vessel for another seven days.
5.Then pour into a gallon jar, leaving as much of the deposit behind as you can.